These submunitions intend to kill or injure personnel and damage material. One cluster bomb contains up to 150 submunitions. When detonating, the casing shatters creating deadly fragmentation particularly harmful to the human body.

This spherical submunition is approx. the size of a tennis ball. The steel body is notched to enhance the fragmentation effect and induce spin as they fall to arm the munition. This type was extensively used in Lao PDR in 1960-70s with many remaining unexploded, endangering local populations to date.

Some submunition are made to penetrate armoured vehicles; these are sometimes combined with a fragmentation effect, therefore called ‘dualpurpose’ submunitions. On impact, the body of the submunition is shattered to create a fragmentation effect, whilst the shaped charge can penetrate up to 10 cm of armour.

In addition to creating fragments and penetrating armour, these submunitions also contain an additional incendiary element. A widely used combined effects munition is the US CBU-87 cluster bomb, whose submunitions can penetrate more than 20 cm of armour.